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Looking for records of a will or administration before 1858

This is a brief guide to researching records of a will or administration before 1858 which was provedprove - to obtain legal authentication in England and Wales. At that time, over 250 church courts dealt with wills and administrations. The records of most of these courts are kept in local archives.

What records can I find in other archives and organisations?

Welsh wills (pre 1858)

Wills and administrations from other courts

Visit local archives for wills and administrations from courts other than the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Read Probate Jurisdictions: Where to Look for Wills by Jeremy Gibson online at Origins.net to identify relevant record offices for your search.

Related guides

Did you know?

The Prerogative Court of Canterbury was the highest church court in England and Wales until 1858.

An application for administration would be made when a person died without leaving a will.

Not everyone left a will and not all wills needed to be proved by a court.

Most people used the appropriate church court. Even in the late 1850s, just before the national court was established, the Prerogative Court of Canterbury was only proving about 40% of the national total of 21,653 wills.

How to determine which court dealt with a will or administration before 1858

There were three main factors determining in which court a will would be proved:

where the person died

the value of the goods

how these goods were distributed geographically

In the period up to 1858 the country was divided into two provinces:

York

Canterbury

The associated courts were the Prerogative Courts of Canterbury and York (or Archbishop's prerogative courts).

The two provinces were split into a number of dioceses. These turn were divided into several archdeaconries, which were then split into rural deaneries. If a person was relatively poor the estate was usually dealt with in the archdeacon's court.

The will of a person with goods in more than one archdeaconry was proved in the bishop's diocesan court. There were also various other courts, known as 'peculiars', administered by the deans and chapters of cathedrals.

The list below may help you establish which type of court would have proved a will:

If it was within one archdeaconry then the will was proved in an Archdeacon's court

If it was within more than one archdeaconry but all in the same diocese then the will was proved in a Bischop's court

If it was within more than one diocese or if the goods were valued at more than £5 (or £10 in London) then it was proved in an Archbishop's prerogative court